Ew bad looking bat

So this is kind of a cute little set.

We have Naida, the water elf with a new look this season A new top with a kind of belted sash/cloak and some stunning boots instead of last season's sandals. Also she has a pretty cool water staff now.

The elemental animal this time is Cory, the water turtle. Cute little feller. Also has Calypso, the younger water turtle, who is even cuter.

The villan of our piece, Furi the imp (bat? I'm told they're bats) has a fast-looking little water ski like ride with a chain shooter for capturing Cory. But Naida can fight back with a powerful disc shooter.

The purple flowers and leaping goldfish are nice little detail touches. I continue to be impressed with the little details in Elves sets.

All-in-all, a small but fun build.

The Elves series has proven the great bridge between my kids (daughter, 5; son, 7) and myself. The theme appeals to both genders and ages, and I personally love how colorful and attractive the sets are.

I was especially looking forward to the 2018 series as the 2016 dragons were a big hit in our house and with visiting friends, so I hoped the brick-built animals would expand on that success. This set in particular caught my eye because it felt unique - a pretty (mom?) turtle and a ridiculously cute baby turtle.

The set provided an afternoon's activity for my daughter, who found it challenging because of the symmetries (left / right, front / back) and a bit of repetition (the shell and legs). The result is as beautiful as I expected - the color and shape is where Elves really shines. There isn't as much playability as a dragon - it's a land turtle, so not even quite as "swooshable" as something with flippers might have been - but it's cute as heck and looks great alongside the many water-themed or water-adjacent Elves sets we've collected.

The stud shooter and chain is a great innovation, because my kids are pretty conservative with their Legos (I trained them well!) and so they don't much shoot studs because they're afraid to lose them. Shooting a chain, though, is very thematic (yet again, the baddies are trying to capture the innocent animals) and also saves the headache of searching for them. The disc shooter is surprisingly strong, however, and, yup, one has already gone missing.

I love all the elves' upgrades, and Naida's new staff is particularly badass.

The bat monster are a little goofy, and not quite as cute as last year's goblins. I'll wait and see if they get played with quite as much. Noturna doesn't seem quite as compelling as either Ragana or Cronin as a baddy.

Overall, I was pretty hyped for this set, and so far my kids seem to enjoy it a lot. It's a bit smaller than I would have liked, but so very imaginative.